Saturday 030125
Ephesians 2:8 ‘…For by GRACE you have been SAVED through FAITH; and this is not of yourselves, it is a GIFT of God…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
Let’s together, open the Word of God this morning, and study what we have been given. Allow me to help you in your study and search the Bible what God has intended for us to hear.
The verses we are going to study tonight:
Ephesians 4:1a, :1, :17, :18, :19, 5:26.
In this morning’s lesson, the 1st thing we MUST remember is that God is always going to be the One that is right. He is going to be the FINAL answer no matter what anyone else might think.
I think Paul had that same mindset. Paul had to have some degree of humility to have been able to be the apostle that Jesus chose. Paul had to have been able to put his wants and desires aside for him to be the follower of God and teach us ‘Gentiles’ about the Word.
Ephesians 4:1a (I am using the EASY version because, to me, it is easier to read in English)
‘…Because I serve the Lord, I am here in prison…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
Paul has given up his life, he has put it all on the back burner, just so he could serve God … and in this verse, he’s in jail because of who he is serving.
Be honest and ask yourself, what have you ever given up?
Ephesians 4:1
‘…I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called…’ AKJV (Authorized King James Version)
‘…Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
‘…I urge you, then—I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord: live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
‘…Because I serve the Lord, I am here in prison. I really want you to live as God’s own people should live. God has called you to come to him. He has chosen you to be his own people…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
Paul is writing that he is in prison because he serves Jesus Christ so that he can teach us ‘Gentiles’ about God.
How many ‘mega’ church pastors today would do the same thing?
How many of these pastors would give their money so hungry people could eat dinner tonight?
Me, not having any money, I have to ask, how much money is enough for these wealthy pastors?
What do you think Paul would say today to those that feel his thirteen (13) epistles should be removed from the Bible?
Myself personally, I don’t think the apostle Paul would give those people the chance to keep him from spreading the Word of God.
I don’t think the apostle Paul would have given them the satisfaction to even think they had accomplished anything that affected his ability to spread the Word of God.
The header for this next verse in the GNT titles this passage as ‘The New Life in Christ.’
Ephesians 4:17
‘…This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind…’ AKJV (Authorized King James Version)
‘…So, I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
‘…In the Lord’s name, then, I warn you: do not continue to live like the heathen, whose thoughts are worthless…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
‘…So, I say this to you. I am sure that I have the Lord’s authority to say it. You must not live any longer like the Gentile people who do not know God. They do whatever their silly ideas teach them to do…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
We are no longer like we were yesterday. We’re to stand proud and let others know that we are BELIEVERS and FOLLOWERS of God.
We’re not to be ashamed and hide our heads because we READ the Word to guide us in the life we are living in.
So many people go to man-made churches today and follow their rules and guidelines and they have no problem with that.
They’ll wear clothing advertising their church that they attend. They buy stickers and put them on their vehicles they drive so others can see where they put their FAITH.
But some of these same people won’t do the same thing for God. They won’t let others know they love Jesus, they’re easily embarrassed.
Ephesians 4:18
‘…having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart…’ AKJV (Authorized King James Version)
‘…being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
‘…and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
‘…They cannot understand God’s true message because their minds are in the dark. They have not accepted the life that God gives. They have decided that they do not want to know about God. They do not even try to understand…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
Is this not the definition of a member at a ‘man’s-church.’
They couldn’t tell you anything about the Bible other than there is an OT and the NT and maybe 50 percent could repeat John 3:16 by memory.
They know who their pastor is and who his helpers are. They know where the church is located, and they know what times the different services are held.
They might know what translation the Bible is read to them on Sunday mornings, and they may even know what color the Bibles are underneath their seats.
They might know who the choir members are, and they might even know the band members’ names.
And that’s it.
Verse 19 is like the icing on the top of the cake.
Ephesians 4:19
‘… who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness…’ AKJV (Authorized King James Version)
‘…and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
‘…They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
‘…They do not feel ashamed when they do all kinds of disgusting things. They do more and more bad things just to please themselves…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
We get into chapter 5, and I hear the evil shouting in the background because someone shouts from the back of the room, the Bible says to, SUBMIT.
Read the entire verse don’t just look and hope because of one (1) word.
Ephesians 5:26
‘…that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word…’ AKJV (Authorized King James Version)
‘…so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
‘…He did this to dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing it in water…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
‘…He did that to make us completely clean, as the people of God. It was like he washed us with water, as he brought God’s message to us…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
We can become ‘clean’ by reading the Word as if we were to clean ourselves with soap and water.
The ‘junk’ that we’ve been storing up for years, thinking that we really knew something, we can wash all that out and clean ourselves when we read the truth found in the Word.
God gave us the Bible to free us from the harm that this world can cause to us.
Beliefs and habits that we’ve become accustomed to can easily be erased from our memory.
The truth is all that we need.
And more importantly, we don’t need an interpreter to read the Word to us, we can do that ourselves, just open up your Bible.
If we never take the time to learn what the Word really says, you can guarantee that you’ll fall for the first line that someone tells you how a verse has been written.
Don’t take the chance that someone might lie to you. Prepare yourself in advance. Use the Bible as it has been intended by God when He gave us His Armor to protect ourselves in this world.
Use the Bible, the SWORD offensively and speak the truth to others and also use the Bible, the SWORD defensively and keep people from lying to you telling you ‘what the Bible says.’
Keep your Bibles open and always study the Word of God. Keep yourselves informed.
I love ALL of y’all.
Jesus, I pray that those ears and eyes, either listening or seeing this message today would be opened to the very fullest and allow Your love to come inside their lives and comfort them. Teach us Jesus. Protect us. We love You. Amen
InHIM. ><)))o>